I believe this video is great because it has taught me some great lessons! I learned that God often speaks to us through our conscience and we are obliged to follow it. However, we are weak human beings who often get mislead by many factors such as sins, temptations, and other factors that catch our attentions leading us to the wrong way. But we always have to remind us that there is our Father speaking to us through our conscience in our heart(although its some small whispers :)) and that we always and forever have to strive to follow that small whispers. In order to do this, I believe that we have to prepare ourselves so that our decisions do not get clouded by the evil things. we have to prepare us with daily Words of God (as Father Reyes told us :)), reflecting the passages in our hearts and of course by talking to God everyday(prayer). In this way, maybe someday, the voices of God can be the clearest voice that we can hear from the thousands of voices surrounding us.
"You can tell a lot of person by what they worship." -- this line stood out to me the most while he was speaking. I took time to reflect about all the people I know after he finished explaining and I definitely agree with the statement. As I reflected, it occurred to me that I hang out in the right crowd since most of the people I know are devoted to God and have good morals.
"... then Elijah hears a tiny whispering voice.... he goes out to listen because the Lord is in that voice." and then he goes about explaining the whole concept of conscience. Then it made me pause the video again, because it never really occurred to me that it was actually God and honestly, I never really looked into it. Everything makes sense now, because I understand why I feel guilty or when I'm extremely joyed when I do something good. It's because I've either disappointed Him or made Him proud. I realize now that I have to find it inside myself to hear Him, and only Him because He is the way, the truth, and the life.
"The conscience places us in the presence of someone that we love" -- this is the line that really stood out to me while I was watching the video. When we are rewarded by our conscience it's the same feeling we get when we please someone that we love and when we get punished by our conscience it's the same feeling we get when we hurt someone that we love. That is why the conscience is truly the "vicor of Christ in the soul" it's like a contact with the personal God who rewards us and punishes us when we're being less than we should be.
This video showed me how the conscience is so important for us.Father Barron showed me a deeper meaning to what i understood before about the conscience. I learned that the conscience is Gods contact to us in a personal way. With our conscience God is telling us in that "tiny voice" what is right from wrong. It both rewards or punishes us in a unique way when we follow or go against God's will. The feelings we have of being happy or sad can not be compared to the feelings we get from our conscience. These positive or negative feelings is not like the feeling of doing something morally right or morally wrong. The conscience, that tiny voice we here is placing us in the presence of someone we love. Pleasing someone you love is a reward by our conscience but disappointing someone or hurting someone is a punishment by our conscience. The conscience is the most important voice out of millions of voices that we have to listen to because once we start listening to the other voices we start to lose our-self, we stat to lose our soul. And once we lose our soul we start losing what our conscience tells us to do. This is what i learned in the video which showed me that my conscience is something more than just a voice but its God reaching out to me and trying to get to me through all the other voices.
"The conscience is the aboriginal vicar of Christ in the soul." This quote made so much sense to me because even before the Pope, the priests, the nuns, and the numeraries tell us what to do, there is already this little voice in our head helping us (or trying to at least) determine what is right or wrong. This voice is our conscience. But unlike all the thousands of other voices in our head that compete for attention, our conscience is a, "tiny whispering voice".
That fact struck me the most, because it's just more proof of how much God loves us and respects our free will. He may live inside us and guide us through our conscience, but His voice isn't intimidating, demanding, loud, or imposing; it's soft enough that it can be drowned out by all the other noise in the world- soft enough that we can choose whether to listen to it or not. That's why people who are closer to God have such well-formed consciences because they can hear Him so clearly, and they've developed the discipline to listen to God's voice and obey Him (no matter how hard the task they're given or how tempted they are)
And so, as a teenager in these turbulent times, it's harder for us to "tune in" to God and to listen to what He has to say. But I guess that's what makes us feel even better when we do listen to Him: knowing that we were strong enough to resist the temptations of this world and that we pleased the Person that we love the most.
The line that stood out in this video would be "You can name somebody from what the worship." Elijah believed in Yaweh. Everyone has different beliefs and that is what defines one person. If one believes in the wrong thing, stay away from them. Those who have the same beliefs as you and believe in the right thing, stay with them. As I reflect on my life, I realized that there were times that I was with the wrong people. Now, I have found the right crowd to be in. On Mount Sinai, Elijah hears a tiny voice. That tiny voice was Jesus. That tiny voice is also our conscience. Our conscience is what tells us what is right from wrong. It is also the tiny voice that makes us feel guilty after doing something wrong. It is true that our conscience also rewards us when we have done something amazing and good. Cardinal Newman refers to the conscience as the "aboriginal vicar of Christ in the soul." Representative of Christ in the soul = conscience.
I have never looked at the conscience as Christ in our body. I always thought it was just a tiny voice, but never Christ. I'm happy I watched this video because now I can talk to Jesus more through the actions I do. If I do something good, my conscience will tell me so, meaning Jesus told me so. If I do something wrong, my conscience will tell me it is bad. I will "talk" to Jesus mentally and say sorry for what I have done and not do it again. I don't want to feel the guilt so I'll talk to Jesus. Every day before I sleep, I reflect on the events that had happened that day and check whether my actions were good or bad. Now that I know that my conscience is Jesus, I will talk to him about it.God is trying to communicate to me through the little actions that I do.
All my life I saw my conscience just as a voice that would tell me what was right and wrong. I never thought of seeing my conscience as a voice of God. Nowadays, there are so many voices telling our generation how to live our life or how we should. I'd often wonder who I should listen to and through this video I realize that it is just that one voice that I have to listen to, God's voice. This video gave me a lot to reflect on and I find it so beautiful that God loves us so much that He Himself is the voice guiding us and leading us to the path of happiness. :)
The important role of our conscience is to lead us to what is right and avoid what is wrong. It is that little voice in your head that navigates your life. It is hard to listen to it sometimes because there are other "voices" overpowering it and what the louder voices shout are most likely the things you want to hear. However, there is one thing that separates the conscience from other "consciences" or other voices.
"The conscience places us in the presence of someone that we love. That when you are rewarded by your conscience is the feeling you get when you've please someone you love. When you are punished by your conscience is the feeling you get when you have hurt or disappointed someone that you love. This is why the conscience is aboriginal vigour of Christ in the soul. It's the contact we have with a personal God who rewards us and chides us when we are less than what we should be." We know that this is the right conscience because when we listen to the voice, it is Christ and what He is saying is obviously in accordance with our morals and belief. It is the best option we have because this will free us from sin. If we let the other voices or temptations get the better of us, it will just lessen our capability to hear the tiny voice and thus will lead us to the wrong direction. The quote, "it profits man nothing to gain the world and lose his soul", explains as to why our conscience is so important. It shows that when we go on with life falling into temptation and losing our connection with God, it will only give us shallow pleasures that will benefit us nothing because what we are truly after is eternal life with God.
Wonderful commentary :) I love how he relates the tiny whispering voices to our conscience. It makes it easier for people to understand. It is true that we hear a voice in every plan of action we make. This is our conscience telling us right from wrong, but if our willpower and faith in itself is not deep enough, then will most likely choose what is wrong, due to our inclination to sin. We must learn to acknowledge God's unbounded love. He continuously gives us endless chances to rectify our wrong doings. And so, we must be more like Elijah - a man eminently clear about whom he worships and therefore everything in his life flows from that.. everything he thinks, everything he does." In other words, by knowing and acknowledging that God is the Supreme Being and by molding our life according to that realization, we will be able to live life making the right decisions with ease.
"It prophets man nothing to gain the whole world and lose a soul" That line in itself simplifies the problem that almost every human soul has the tendency to face, almost everyday. We have such a difficult time making decisions, listening to all sorts of possible answers, and mulling over possibilities when the answer is always there. We just choose not to listen hard enough :-).
Fr. Barron was able to shed light on that in the most simplistic way possible and yet with such effect (on me personally). Using the the story of Elijah on Mt. Sinai as a parallelism, he was able to show that voices and noises like earthquakes in the mind are heard by everyone, even pious people like Elijah. But at the same time, everyone also has that inner whisper that Elijah had heard despite the noise around him.
Then Fr. Barron identifies what the whisper truly is, then links it to what our conscience is and how it is related to morality. The whisper in the story was the holy spirit. Our conscience, like the whisper, is the holy spirit reaching out to us, especially when we are faced with moral decisions or situations like that Elijah was faced with. It places you in the presence of some one you love and worship, and that is why it presses on us with such enormous power, as father Barron said. No matter how hard we try to ignore our conscience, we will always be met with the feeling shame, which is far more powerful than a negative you feeling you get from "writing a bad essay". Or in the case that we follow our conscience, we will be rewarded with such fulfillment and actualization that does not compare to any other feeling of contentment.
As a teenager, I personally have such a difficult deciding upon what to do and what not to do. After having watched this i realize now how simple the solution is. All we have to do is close our mind to all the other voices, and listen to the most important voice first and foremost-- the lord's :-)
From this video, I realized that there are, indeed, thousand voices in our minds competing for our attention to do this or to do that and among these voices there is a tiny whispering voice calling us the right way. The real challenge here is distinguishing this voice from the others and following toward the good. "When you are rewarded by your conscience is the feeling you get when you pleased someone that you love. When you are punished by your conscience is the feeling you get you hurt or disappointed someone that you love." I very mush agree with this line because the someone that I love is God. When I am rewarded by the conscience, I feel God being proud and happy with me but when I am punished by the conscience, I feel that I hurt God and failed Him.
I think that the fact that being able to hear the tiny whispering of conscience is a great achievement. Despite the voice being drowned by other noises, we are still able to walk the right path. Most importantly, we should never forget that the tiny whispering voice is God calling out to us. Because He loves us so much, He gives us choices to choose from (the loud voices) but doesn't forget to stretch out His hand to us (the tiny voice). To conclude, I learned that there always has been a tiny voice in my head that I wasn't able to pay attention to. Now that I've realized this I will be able to follow the right path that God is leading me to.
i understood from Fr. Barron that in the midst of all the voices calling to us, we should listen for and follow the small but powerful voice, called conscience. Conscience is unique: it has the ability to press on us. It tells us when we're doing something wrong or right. It not only lets us know the rights and wrongs but after we do something wrong, it shames us. After we do something right, it praises us. This tiny voice represents God's voice. And since it represents God, it is a vicor of God in our souls. Our conscience is the voice we especially should not ignore. Instead, we should follow it.
"It's the contact we have with the personal God, who rewards us and who chides us when we're less than what we should be" Before he says this line, Fr. Barron mentions that the conscience is the little voice in our head, the representative of God, speaking to us. It is because of our conscience that we are able to feel satisfied or guilty for something we've done, are doing, or are about to do. I really like how Fr. Barron emphasized the difference of feeling bad about something from feeling ashamed. I then realized that we come to be aware of our conscience once we recognize our moral virtues. There is then a fine line between what we think for ourselves (what we think our conscience tells us) and what our conscience is actually telling us. Both will seem the same except that our conscience has a greater and more powerful impact on our souls. Going back to what Fr. Barron said, the conscience is the voice that chides us when we're less than what we should be. It's not something to bring us down; rather, it is a voice that motivates us to reach our full potentials.
This video showed me the true value of Conscience in our lives. It is something that directs our life and tells us whether we should do something or not. It is the voice of God, whispering to us what what He wants us to do. Father Robert Barron also talks about how people tend to listen to the "wrong voices" that often lead us to the wrong path. This motivated me to pay attention to my Conscience more, because I may be following these wrong voices. I may be in the path to losing my soul. Watching this film made me realize how thankful I am, that God has given me another connection to Him. I also realized the value of Conscience. Without it, we wouldn't have that extra incentive to do the right thing from the wrong.
In today's world, there are so many factors that affect our decision making process. We hear so many voices around us telling us what to do and what not to do. From our childhood, we are repeatedly told to do certain things and to avoid others. This is not to be confused over what our conscience. There is a fine line between the two. It isn't simply one's father's or mother's voice speaking in their head but moreover, it's God's voice within us. In the story of Elijah, he asked for a sign that God was with him. It wasn't the strong wind or any other big sign. God was simply the small voice in his head and truth be told, this is more powerful than anything we can ever ask for. Fr. Barron quotes Cardinal Newman by saying it is "the aboriginal vicar of Christ in the soul." He could not be more right in saying so. Our conscience places us in the presence of someone you love which in our case is God. What sense our conscience apart from simple human emotion is that it brings about shame. We become ashamed when we do something bad or when we know that we go against the moral law. It brings about more than just happiness or sadness. It can create shame which only conscience can create. Our conscience is innate in each one of us. We don't ask for it but it is simply there. We don't ask for it yet it is more than we could ask for. As what Fr. Barron says, it's not something that hinders us or stops us from doing certain actions. Our conscience is what drives us to become better people and better children of God. It is what makes us one with Christ.
What really struck me most when I watched Fr. Barron's video was the quote from Cardinal Newman: The conscience is the aboriginal vicar of Christ in the soul. The description of conscience was very vague before, but when Fr. Barron quoted the cardinal, it became a bit clearer to me. I knew that conscience is that little voice in our heads that tell us right from wrong, but I didn't realize that it's somehow a representative of Christ living in our souls making sure that we're able to tell the difference between right and wrong and eventually leading us to choose the right. However, we still have to make an effort in hearing that voice in our heads because it's a very tiny voice amidst loud screams of temptation. And this is when the graces of God come in handy. Really, the closer we are to Christ, the louder the tiny voices of the conscience become since conscience is Christ's representative in our souls. The gift of conscience and graces from God will lead us to the right path, provided that human effort is exerted, although we cannot survive on our own.
Watching this video helped me understand why I feel bad whenever I do something morally wrong and why I feel good whenever I do something good. It made me realize that the conscience is very important because it is God's way of telling us to choose the right decision. He made it clear to His children including myself that He is there to help us, but we often forget that the everything we do can be seen by Him. We often forget how much He sacrificed for us, and doing wrong things just disappoints Him. Now, I understand that whenever I do something wrong, I feel bad, because deep down I know I failed God-- that I failed to obey his rules. This video taught me that the conscience is very important because whenever we need guidance, we just have to listen hard to what "it" is trying to tell us.
[CLAUDINE AFABLE's comment] Basically, the video widened my understanding of conscience. Based on what Fr. Barron said, he mentioned that the conscience is the "contact that we have with the personal God". When we do not follow our conscience, we feel shame. We feel ashamed of the immoral acts we have committed. "It is the feeling that you get when you hurt someone that you love". The shame that we feel is the feeling when we did not follow our conscience and ended up doing immoral acts. Fr. Barron also made me realize the difference on being ashamed or feeling bad about something. His example of writing a bad article and doing something immoral was very relatable. Not following our conscience will have a greater impact on us compared to writing a bad article because we know that we have displeased God. If we follow our conscience, we get the feeling that we have pleased someone we love. That someone we love is God. In the end, we should always follow the little voice, known as our conscience that tells us to do the right thing.
"You cannot reduce the conscience to those things, there is something that is just so powerful, clear and intricate about it that we know it is not just a matter of hang-ups, repressions, or eternalized voices of our fathers."
I found this quote really amusing yet quite significant because that was what I used to relate my conscience to whenever I think about it. I used to believe that the conscience was just your subconscious reminding you of what you should do, or what you should have done right (just like a parent), and I believe that many people today see it as such too.
After watching this video, I now understand what the conscience really is, which is basically that small voice inside of us that holds the moral truth which is innate in each and everyone of us; this helps us choose right from wrong. It is God's own way of connecting with us in a sense that he wants what is best for us while still giving us free will to do as we please.
This video truly is Godsend because with how our world/our generation is today, we must learn and understand what our conscience is to help us listen better (or actually listen) to what our conscience is telling us to do without thinking of it as "the voice of our parent" and whatnot.
I used to think that the conscience was simply a subconscious part of us that tells us right from wrong. I also linked the concept of conscience to emotions like guilt and relief. This video made clear to me what conscience really is. The conscience is not some part of our brain that tells us what is right and wrong, it is a real and actual Voice. Moreover, it is not just any voice, it is the Voice of God. God Himself continuously guides us through our conscience. Through the constant and continuous guidance He gives us through our conscience, He leads us to the path of true happiness and freedom by helping us live a morally upright life, and therefore, a fruitful and meaningful life.
"Conscience is the aboriginal vicar of Christ in the soul." When Fr. Barron said that quote, it opened my mind and helped me understand 'conscience' better. Christ is the voice within my soul that guides me to do good. Who else would be better?
The point of my conscience is to help me decipher good actions from bad actions. Jesus Christ is the role model I am trying to mirror in my actions. Who would be better to help me and guide me through the trials I encounter? He is the perfect example and of course, I always think "WWJD" (what would Jesus do). It turns out that I didn't need to think about it so much because the answer is already ingrained in my soul. Jesus is already telling me what to do through my conscience. It's only Jesus who can guide me so thoroughly. And it's only Jesus who can have such control over the reward and punishment I receive.
Fr. Barron is right when he says that the feeling you experience when you do something morally bad is different from when you don't do well. When I don't do well in a competition or a test, I think "Oh, I could have done better." but when I do something morally bad or directly against my conscience, I think "Oh no! I shouldn't have done that!" The different ideas and thoughts that enter my mind during these situations just amplify how different the two situations are. It is 'shame' that we experience when we do something morally bad. When we don't best in a test or competition or something, it's embarrassment we feel. The two things are entirely different and 'shame' is much graver because of the lasting and painful feeling that it leaves on us. Embarrassment is just temporary and is just pride. Shame is something against your soul, against your nature as a human being.
It also goes the other way when you do something good. The happiness you experience when you do a morally good act is something that you can't get from anything else. Sure, it feels good to get high on a test or do well in a performance, but it doesn't give me that feeling of my heart being lifted, my soul being cleaned, and my mind being filled that I receive after I go to mass. It's something entirely different and only something Jesus can give us.
Fr. Barron talks about how the conscience places us in the presence of someone you love which is why it hurts so much when you do bad or feels so good when you do something good. When you love someone, you care for them and only want what's best for them which is why you don't want to do anything bad because it will hurt them. Or why you work extra hard to do good so that they will become happy and pleased. That "someone you love" is JESUS. That's why it hurts so much or is feels so good. He has already sacrificed His life for us on the cross and yet here we are hurting him even more. That is why the reward and punishment is something we can't experience anywhere else because the conscience is Jesus Christ.
Now, the problem is that there is a tendency to ignore our consciences. We tend to degrade them as just an annoying voice that doesn't understand society or how things work. Like what Fr. Barron said, as teenagers, it is especially difficult to listen to this whispering voice when there are other voices yelling our face. We have the voice of temptation, the voice of pressure, and the voice of the devil trying to overpower the voice of our conscience, the voice of Jesus Christ. With so many distractions and bad influences, it is hard to listen for the soft, whispering voice. However, if we do push aside all the negative influences and voices and find the voice of Christ, we gain a skill that helps us create a closer relationship with God and brings us to what is GOOD. As teenagers, we need to make a conscious effort to find this voice and listen to it. Our conscience is Jesus Christ directly guiding us. Our conscience is really "What would Jesus do?"
“You can tell a lot of persons by what they worship” This is one of the things that struck me the most. When he said it, I didn’t really believe him because I couldn’t seem to understand the relationship of what a person believes in to his personality or qualities. But as I further reflect on myself, I realized that I could see this in my own life. God is the number one thing that I worship. Because of this, my life revolves around God most of the time. I usually offer up all the things that I do to God. My goals and ambitions is to follow what God has planned for me and I surround myself with people that believe in Him and guide me towards Him. God is my number one priority and the people who are around me are usually the people who help me stay on that path to Him. I try to make everything I do for his greater glory and for Him. I worship Him only that is why my life revolves around Him.
His last statement or point struck me the most because I can honestly say that this is true. There are so many things in the world today that makes us lose sight of what is really right and what is wrong. One of the things that have a big role in our blindness to the right way is the media. Sometimes, the media feeds us wrong information that confuses us. It makes us think that a certain action or thing is good when in reality it isn’t. It forms our mind to believe what they want us to believe even if it is completely wrong. But even though we may become “blind”, our conscience is always there to guide us to the right path. It is hard to listen to it because there are so many wrong voices telling us the opposite of what our conscience is telling us but we must put effort in searching for that voice, for our conscience , because this is the only one that will help us towards God. We have the natural tendency to what is good, although sometimes this is blurred by outside factors, we must find our way to that good no matter how hard it is. God gave us this voice, this conscience, so that He may guide us through all the struggles and the confusions. It is our choice if we want to find that voice amongst the other false voices and follow it or just completely fall into the control of the false voices.
I realized how important conscience is. I had no idea that conscience is one of the many ways God is trying to communicate with us. This voice of conscience represents God in our souls.whenever I do something bad, there's always that "voice" in my head to think before acting. And sometimes, I choose to ignore that "voice" I end up regreting not listening to my conscience.
The conscience is the "tiny whispering voice" in our head and "the Lord is in that Voice". From the comments of Father Barron, I learned that that tiny voice in our head is actually God's voice telling what's good and what's bad or what is moral. We shouldn't reduce our conscience into something miniscule because in truth it is filled with "enormous power". It is the voice of Jesus, who is the Supreme Being. We should always follow our conscience, not the opinions of others nor what the society dictates us to do because our conscience (so long as we are in the right state of mind) is the best thing to follow to achieve what is good. The conscience is something very powerful, in the end it is what will punish us with shame or reward us with happiness according to the morality of our actions. If we go against our conscience, the most important voice in our head, then we won't be happy because we would be going against God-who is our happiness. The comments of Father Barron made me realize that I should reflect more on my actions before and after executing it so I know if what I did or will do is morally correct or not and so that I will be able to learn from my mistakes. Lastly, I should listen more to my conscience rather than giving in to peer pressure or other factors because my conscience is the whisper of God into my soul, it is He way of guiding me and helping me through obstacles in life.
I really enjoyed this video, because Fr. Barron managed to put into words what I've felt for a while. He talked about our conscience, and how it's God's voice, directing us towards a good, moral life. He further explained that the little voice we hear in our heads is so familiar and close to us, not because it's a version of yourself, like how movies sometimes show a tiny angel and devil on someone's shoulders (http://2.bp.blogspot.com/_UQ_mDu1rACE/S0IUF1biRXI/AAAAAAAAAiM/WtwW-0vDIfw/s320/kronk+1%5B1%5D.jpg), but because it's like the voice of someone we love and care about deeply.
Which is why we feel elated and almost proud when we hear our conscience praising us after we've done something morally good, and why we feel so ashamed when we hear our conscience chastising us when we've done something wrong. It's almost like we're happy to face it when we've done good, and we want to hide from it when we've done something wrong. He explains we feel this way because it's GOD's voice, our Father, who we *hear in our heads. We're happy to make him proud, but ashamed when we know we've gone against his will.
I also love the idea that a small piece of God is with us wherever we go, guiding us, helping us, talking to us. This further enforces the ideas I grew up with surrounding God, about Him always listening to our thoughts and talking back to us. It just shows that even though God is so huge, so vast, so omnipotent, He still gives a part of Himself to each and every one of us, attached to our souls (from when He first created us), because He loves us so dearly.
After watching this video, I'll remember to keep aware of what my conscience is saying. I don't want to be ashamed or guilty about facing it, especially since I now know it's really God. I want to be proud of what I do, and content. I want to make my conscience, or God, proud and happy. I'll do my best to listen to my conscience, and not let it get drowned in cacophony of voices bombarded at me everyday. It will be hard, but sometimes being a good Catholic, being a good person, and doing the right thing are difficult. Always worth it in the end though, considering it will help contribute to my character. :)
*About "hearing" my conscience, I don't know if it's like this for other people, but I don't literally "hear" a voice. It's more of a gut feeling, something very primal and instinctual, than actual words being said to me. I now think it feels this way to me because it's God. He's part of my very soul, my very being, and this is why I feel Him and my conscience by my gut, rather than hear an actual voice. Just sharing this little revelation I just had :)
What Fr. Barron said that struck me the most is: "My point is it's not like the conscience. What I feel when I say, "Yeah! I written a good article. It's good. It's a good feeling but not like the feeling that I get from doing something morally right or the feeling I get from writing a bad article. It's bad but its's not like the feeling of conscience when I have done something morally wrong. We use the word SHAME there." What Fr. Barron said made me understand more fully what conscience is. Conscience is the small voice we hear that tells us what is good and what is bad. It is very powerful because it is the aboriginal vicar of the Christian soul. I understand now that the feeling we have when we achieved something or got low in a test is different from the feeling of conscience because conscience let us feel shame just like Adam and Eve when they were ashamed that they were naked. There may be other voices that we may hear aside from the small voice which is our conscience and you can have the option to listen to our conscience or ignore it but if we continue to ignore our conscience then we lose our souls which is losing our conscience. I think we need silence in our life so that we can reflect and fully listen to that small voice that is trying to talk to us. -Ira Nevalga IV-A
I liked what Fr. Barron's commented about conscience. What I really liked most is when he said that conscience is aboriginal Vicar of Christ in the soul. The small whispering that makes us know that we are doing good or bad. Explanation of conscience from Fr. Barron was very clear and it made me understand better the meaning of conscience through his examples. I think it is really important for us to hear this small whisper because this really tells us whether we are doing good or not. Also not just hearing it but to act accordingly. -Bang, Woo Jin IVA-
Pinocchio gave me my first image of a conscience- a little cricket with an umbrella, and although I should have outgrown it, I preferred to keep the image of the cricket man as my conscience. It gave me a tangible sense of what I was dealing with. Having a cricket on my shoulder telling me right from wrong was better than thinking I could drive myself mad with guilt if I ever steered away from the right. Fr. Barron uses the word "shame" to describe how he feels when he commits a morally wrong act, I don't know if shame is what I ever felt but I know that when I do something wrong, I end up feeling restless. I wouldn't be able to sleep, I'd have not appetite, I'd just be so overwhelmed because I wouldn't be able to stop thinking of the consequences of my actions. What could happen and what I could have done differently. Conscience, I've always believed, can haunt any man- like a pestering ghost with a voice that gets only louder and louder when ignored. Though I have always liked the idea of my cricket conscience, knowing that it is the "aboriginal vicar of Christ" in me, is a good replacement. I like knowing that God is there, guiding me, helping me, and reminding me to listen to Him.
This video gave me more idea about conscience. All the words stated by father.Barron was all good . he was made good examples that helped me understand more about conscience. what father. Barron stated that conscience is a tiny whisper strucked me the most while watching the video. It made me think more about conscience. The short video about the conscience gave me more ideas about conscience through examples and the word stated by father Barron.
"You can tell a lot about a person depending on what they worship." - Fr. Barron
In the commentary made by Father Barron i learned a lot of things including the ff:
"You can tell a lot about a person depending on what they worship." - Fr. Barron This line of Father Barron really struck me, aside from the fact that it was the first thing he said, it also made me think that "To worship someTHING, makes us NOthing. To worship the ONE, makes us someONE". We don't just worship someONE, we worship the one who gave us the "heavens and the earth", the one who created us because he knew that he has created something that is "very good" out side of Himself. Given the opportunity that we were given the gift of freedom by our God, it is but right to serve the purpose of our creation, by knowing what is moral, by following the TRUTH, by following Him. --------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Conscience, being the aboriginal vicar of Christ in the soul, is able to make us aware that we have within us a "personal God". A personal God that makes us feel rewarded when we have done something good, and makes us feel punished when we have done something against him. Also, conscience is a voice, a voice that we know would lead us to do the right thing. Not only should it be the most inferior voice that we hear, but it should also be the one that we follow. --------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Conscience also helps us in knowing if we can ride the "Worth-ship". We are incapable to steer or navigate our own "ships"/ lives if we would only depend on ourselves. Many times our "worth-ship" is tested by storms, struggles, pressure, waves, etc. However, if we follow our conscience, our "worth-SHIP" would sail smoothly along the rivers and will make us strong even though the rapids may shake us we can still stand strong and sooner or later reach our end. On the other hand, if we veer away from what our conscience tells us, there is a possibility that our "worth-ship" may sink, it can lead us to forgetting about what the truth is, what we believe in and that we actually have a God that will help us sail once more only if we acknowledge our faults.
"The conscience is the aboriginal vicar of Christ in the soul."
When I first heard this line, I thought of how familiar "aboriginal vicar of Christ" was to me. But I wasn't sure so I googled the definition. Aboriginal means "existing in", while vicar of Christ means "representative of Christ." From what I searched, I now understand from this line that conscience is the representative of Christ who lives in our soul. This is why we do not see conscience. We only hear and think of it because it is the voice of Christ telling us what to do. It is Christ's voice in our souls telling us to do good and avoid evil.
Christ does his part in order to help us choose what is right by being this "tiny voice" in our souls. But it is not all up to him on what we do. That is why we have freedom. Because we have freedom, it is up to us to choose whether to listen to that "tiny voice" that is telling us to do good, or just go ahead and do what we want even if it is wrong. We should always try our best to listen and follow that "tiny voice" in our heads, because listening and following to this "tiny voice" makes a big difference on judgement day. Following this "tiny voice" of Christ will lead us to salvation.
What struck me about what Fr. Barron said is when he said that "Conscience is a voice that tells us right from wrong. It rewards us in an absolutely unique way when we are good and kind. It punishes us in an absolutely unique way when we do things that counter the will of God." It struck me because you could see that the conscience, the "voice" really is like the voice of God in our souls telling us right from wrong. Because the conscience is the aboriginal vicar of Christ in the soul, the little voice we hear is supposed to be like the voice of God. It really tries to steer us towards what is good and we'll know because it will reward us in a unique way that will allow us to know that what we did was morally good. At the same time, it also tells us what we did was morally bad through its unique punishment that we recognize from when we know we have done bad things. Conscience is really that little voice that we should listen to; it can be difficult to hear but it's always there anyway.
After having watched the video, I realized how conscience is linked to God's love for us. God loves us so much that he's given us our conscience to help us know what is right from wrong. He "whispers" to us each time we do something that might cause harm to us. The only problem is that we can chose to not listen to God's voice. When we chose to ignore the "voice of God", we go through a series of consequences due to our action. Truly, we cannot be dependent on ourselves when it comes to sin because we tend to cover up the sin.(SHAME) Our conscience is within us to help us face our sin and correct it. God tells us what to do and what not to do. He loves us so much that He whispers in our ear each time we are about to fall. After learning about conscience, I became more thankful and more aware about the importance of conscience. I also realized God's deep love for each of us in the world.
"Do you have the capacity a midst all those voices to hear that tiny whispering voice? Because that's the one you have to pay attention to."
These days, I notice that most people will have vastly different opinions and choices from one another, and all will be considered correct, because not one person is completely right, each person differs from their neighbor, and it's all okay. It's all relative and subjective anyway, according to them. What we don't realize is that those millions of voices, the loud opinions and such of the people around us, aren't necessarily right. We shouldn't so easily just give into what one person believes and believes that too.
Morality, what is considered as right and wrong, is not something we decide for ourselves, or for anyone to dictate to us. It's about listening to the tiny whispers that don't try to push us, but gently remind us that just because certain voices are louder than most, it doesn't mean they're the most reliable and correct. Rather, the quiet ones are the ones that speak the most truth.
This video made me open my eyes and realize how important our conscience really is. I always thought that my conscience was just "another me" disagreeing or agreeing with myself on something, but boy was I wrong! Our conscience is God! Knowing this know made me value my conscience so much more than before. It made me realize how important it is to listen to my conscience because it is God's way of helping me go through the better path in life even though it may be difficult. Father Barron mentioned that when we are rewarded my our conscience we get the feeling we get when we please someone we love which feels pretty good but when we get punished we get the feeling we get when we have hurt or disobeyed someone we love. This made me think about it and I agree. When we listen to our conscience we usually end up doing the good thing and it feels great! But when we follow our instinct and not listen to our conscience we usually regret our actions after and it usually feels like you have failed. This video made me realize how important my conscience is and how I should listen to it no matter what because now I know that it's God's way of communicating with me.
"The Lord said it profits man nothing to gain the whole world and loose his soul" Nowadays, it is very difficult to decipher right from wrong due to the many "voices" that pull us towards different directions. These voices, that come from media, popular culture and current trends, make it difficult, especially for teens, to know what to follow. Fr. Baron emphasizes in his video the presence of conscience in us. He mentions that the conscience is like a vicar or a representative of Christ in the soul that helps us know the absolute truth in situations that deal with the morality of an action. To add to Fr. Baron’s comment on conscience, a well-formed and developed conscience helps one to avoid falling for moral relativism. Having a “strict” conscience guards us from believing in lies made by the modern world and from believing that truth is relative, that we can decide for ourselves what is good or bad. Our conscience helps us live a life according to the absolute and objective truth. Furthermore, the conscience helps us know how to follow and please God, whom we love, and know what displeases Him. Mika Rodas IV-A
The line that struck me the most while watching the video is when Fr. Barron said that "The Conscience is the aboriginal vicar of Christ in the soul". It struck me the most because it made me realize that even if God gave us the freedom to choose whatever we want, he is always and will always be there to guide our conscience to make the right choice. Since, aboriginal means to inhabit or exist in, Christ is in our soul because he is also part of our conscience. He exists in our soul to guide us to make the right choices because like Elijah, he hears a "tiny whispering voice". In our case, that "whispering voice" is Christ guiding us to make the right choices whenever we go through times with tough decisions to make.
"You can tell an awful lot of a person through what they worship."
I agree with this line that Fr. Barron said because truly, what we worship in life says a lot about who we are. If we worship money and material things then it shows that we are materialistic. If we worship many gods, then it shows that we are polygamistic. If we woship and love the one true God the father with all our hearts, then it shows that we do have a clear vision of our purpose in life and that we are diligent Followers of the Catholic faith. This is very related to conscience which was another thing that struck me in this video.
Father barron mentioned in the video the tiny whispering voice that tells us the right from the wrong. In every action and choice that we make, somewhere within us, we know which is one was the right and wrong thing to do. This is also known as the whisper to our souls and this whisper can be identified as the holy spirit and as God the father reaching to us especially during the times when we are faced with moral decisions. And when we do make the right choice, we are rewarded with grace, happiness and love from God. But when we make the wrong choice, we are punished by God and we feel guilty for what we have done. This is the aboriginal vicar of Christ in our souls or the voice inside of us that makes us aware of the consequences of choices that we will choose to make. Conscience exists primarily as a guide for us to choose the right path but in the end it will all still depend on how we use our free will.
Before watching this video, conscience was just a simple "voice" that we would hear when we do something bad. I didn't even know that we would be hearing voices when we would do something good. This video taught me that conscience isn't something that just allows us to distinguish what is right and what is wrong, but that conscience is moral.We tend to hear many voices in our minds when we do something wrong like, "Is this right?Am I sure?Am I allowed to do this?" and when we do something wrong like, "I think I did pretty well on the test today." No. Conscience isn't something that meddles with these petty things that goes through our minds every single day. Conscience is something that really is undistinguishable because it is surrounded by hundreds of other voices and we need to listen carefully for it. It is the thing that stops us from doing something morally wrong and urges us to go on when we are doing something morally right. Conscience is the voice of Jesus that allows us to make the right choices in whatever things we do. Father Barron taught me so much things in this short 8mins and 29sec video and I don't know why but it made me feel so warm and happy. It was a beautiful video which I think I could watch over and over again.
From this video of Fr. Barron, I've learned more about the conscience. I've learned that the conscience is something even more powerful than its meaning. It is not only the representation of Jesus within us speaking to us but it is something more powerful that cannot be expressed in these kinds of matter. With our conscience we not only know what is right from wrong but God tries to talk to us through this. We sometimes ignore what He tells us what is right so we start having our own thoughts and we do whatever we think is the truth but really isn't. But what Fr. Barron is telling us is that we should listen to that small voice and not the thousands of voices around us because God is within us and in order to show our love for Him, we need to follow what He wills us to do which is to do what is good.
I am thankful for having given this opportunity to know more about the real purpose of the presence of Conscience in us from hearing Father Barron’s words. I discovered that conscience doesn’t just exist as guidance in telling us on whether or not our actions are good, but also it is God’s voice, which makes it more powerful. I learned Conscience is important because there are times when we are prone to committing disgraceful acts but the fact that our conscience is always ready to show us the right way makes us avoid in doing so. It also makes us realize the difference from the bad and the good so we always have to give attention to our conscience to be able to achieve living the right way.
By watching the video, I was able to further understand what the word "conscience" means. Conscience is the voice that we all recognize, the voice that tells us right from wrong, the voice that rewards us when we have done something that is generous, kind, and godly and punishes us when we've done something against God's will –something that makes us less than what we should be.
While watching the video of Father Barron regarding the topics of conscience and morality, what struck me the most is this line: "Eliyahu --Eli means God; Yahu means Yahweh –Yahweh is my God. That's who Elijah is. He is very clear on his ultimate value which is Yahweh." It struck me the most because in the bible stories about him running to Mt. Sinai after being chased, he heard the tiny whispering voice –he heard God. He was able to hear his conscience because he was being rewarded for being able to distinguish right from wrong and stand up for what is true in front of King Ahab and Queen Jezebel after they had both fallen to the worship of a false god. It struck me because amidst the voices of the king and the queen, he was able to hear that tiny whispering voice that told him that what he did was the right thing to do and that he was able to succeed in following the voice of God amidst the thousands of other voices –the voice that one needs to follow.
POSTING FOR ISAY CRUZ Now did I realize that in everything we do, we always hear this voice that tells us whether what we're doing is good or bad. It made me realize the importance of it, and how we should actually listen more to this tiny little voices, which is the conscience. He's saying that despite the fact that we have our conscience telling us the right thing to do, we still have this free will and freedom that will most likely make us choose the wrong thing, and will eventually lead us to commit sin. Being able to watch this video showed me the true value of conscience and how it is God's voice leading us to the right path. Like, there are times wherein we tend to have second thoughts on the things were about to do, because it is usually our conscience telling us whats the better thing to do. Although there are times that we'd rather follow the wrong voice,thus leading us to doing the wrong thing and committing sin. This is why Fr. Barron also mentioned how we tend to listen to the wrong voices instead of listening to God's voice which leads us to sin. And so because of this video, I learned that I should be more aware of the kind of conscience I listen to, that it should be God's voice. That hopefully I'm not listening and following the wrong voices which will lead me to the wrong path. This video showed us that God does everything to have a special connection with each and every one of us just to be able to guide us to the right path, and avoid ourselves from sinning. therefore we should be thankful about this conscience [God's voice] and not just ignore it, but take advantage [not in a bad way] of it.
I love this video. Father Barron explained the true meaning of conscience very well. I realized that the conscience is an important value for us and I learned that it is a tiny voice from God to do the right things. I decided to follow my conscience whenever there is a situation that I have to decide on. The video helped me to understand myself better and deeper.
During creation, God crafted man from the soil. Man was made from the earth, yet there was a part of him that was imparted to him by God. That part of man was the Soul. God literally breathed life into us, and because of this, we have a part of Him in us. We have free will, and intellect, and an effect of this is the ability of conscience. Now, I think conscience is what really makes us special, like the video implicates. Special, because first of all we have the ability to judge our actions before even doing them. A dog, or any other animal, for that matter may not be able to judge that there is rat poison in their food. Man can rationalize what is happening around them, and respond to it either in a good or bad way. That is why we really need to take care of what we do. The conscience is God’s voice talking to us. But we must be careful in order to hear the proper voice. There are many other voices that want to drown His voice out; such examples are the voices of pleasure, the voices of vice, the voices of materialism. They sometimes speak louder than the voice of God. It’s a saddening reality, even in the world today. Now we listen more to heavy metal rock than to mass. Now we watch pornography rather than the Passion of Christ. Now we spend more time on the computer rather than in the church. We must struggle to fight against these voices. We must used our own voice and shout out, “I must hear myself!” Not the stained, imperfect self, but the self imparted to us by God. God’s voice. I leave this comment with a quote. “Be careful of your thoughts, for your thoughts become your words. Be careful of your words, for your words become your actions. Be careful of your actions, for your actions become your habits. Be careful of your habits, for your habits become your character. Be careful of your character, for your character becomes your destiny." ~Author unknown
Thanks to this video, I have a deeper understanding of what ourconscience really is. It is the "aboriginal vigor of Christ in the soul" because it's the contact with a personal God who rewards us when we're less than what we should be. This is also why we react in certain ways when we follow our conscience and when we don't. Because of this video, I will now be more rational and listen to the voice of my conscience more often. I will think of my conscience as God speaking to me; how could you say no to God, right? Our conscience may be competing with thousands of other voices, but "that one voice is the one we need to follow."
DAN BI KIM (IV-B)
ReplyDeleteI believe this video is great because it has taught me some great lessons! I learned that God often speaks to us through our conscience and we are obliged to follow it. However, we are weak human beings who often get mislead by many factors such as sins, temptations, and other factors that catch our attentions leading us to the wrong way. But we always have to remind us that there is our Father speaking to us through our conscience in our heart(although its some small whispers :)) and that we always and forever have to strive to follow that small whispers. In order to do this, I believe that we have to prepare ourselves so that our decisions do not get clouded by the evil things. we have to prepare us with daily Words of God (as Father Reyes told us :)), reflecting the passages in our hearts and of course by talking to God everyday(prayer). In this way, maybe someday, the voices of God can be the clearest voice that we can hear from the thousands of voices surrounding us.
"You can tell a lot of person by what they worship." -- this line stood out to me the most while he was speaking. I took time to reflect about all the people I know after he finished explaining and I definitely agree with the statement. As I reflected, it occurred to me that I hang out in the right crowd since most of the people I know are devoted to God and have good morals.
ReplyDelete"... then Elijah hears a tiny whispering voice.... he goes out to listen because the Lord is in that voice." and then he goes about explaining the whole concept of conscience. Then it made me pause the video again, because it never really occurred to me that it was actually God and honestly, I never really looked into it. Everything makes sense now, because I understand why I feel guilty or when I'm extremely joyed when I do something good. It's because I've either disappointed Him or made Him proud. I realize now that I have to find it inside myself to hear Him, and only Him because He is the way, the truth, and the life.
- Melissa del Rosario, IV-C
"The conscience places us in the presence of someone that we love" -- this is the line that really stood out to me while I was watching the video. When we are rewarded by our conscience it's the same feeling we get when we please someone that we love and when we get punished by our conscience it's the same feeling we get when we hurt someone that we love. That is why the conscience is truly the "vicor of Christ in the soul" it's like a contact with the personal God who rewards us and punishes us when we're being less than we should be.
ReplyDeleteAndee Torres, IV-B
This video showed me how the conscience is so important for us.Father Barron showed me a deeper meaning to what i understood before about the conscience. I learned that the conscience is Gods contact to us in a personal way. With our conscience God is telling us in that "tiny voice" what is right from wrong. It both rewards or punishes us in a unique way when we follow or go against God's will. The feelings we have of being happy or sad can not be compared to the feelings we get from our conscience. These positive or negative feelings is not like the feeling of doing something morally right or morally wrong. The conscience, that tiny voice we here is placing us in the presence of someone we love. Pleasing someone you love is a reward by our conscience but disappointing someone or hurting someone is a punishment by our conscience. The conscience is the most important voice out of millions of voices that we have to listen to because once we start listening to the other voices we start to lose our-self, we stat to lose our soul. And once we lose our soul we start losing what our conscience tells us to do. This is what i learned in the video which showed me that my conscience is something more than just a voice but its God reaching out to me and trying to get to me through all the other voices.
ReplyDelete-Rebecca Garcia IV-B
"The conscience is the aboriginal vicar of Christ in the soul."
ReplyDeleteThis quote made so much sense to me because even before the Pope, the priests, the nuns, and the numeraries tell us what to do, there is already this little voice in our head helping us (or trying to at least) determine what is right or wrong.
This voice is our conscience. But unlike all the thousands of other voices in our head that compete for attention, our conscience is a, "tiny whispering voice".
That fact struck me the most, because it's just more proof of how much God loves us and respects our free will. He may live inside us and guide us through our conscience, but His voice isn't intimidating, demanding, loud, or imposing; it's soft enough that it can be drowned out by all the other noise in the world- soft enough that we can choose whether to listen to it or not.
That's why people who are closer to God have such well-formed consciences because they can hear Him so clearly, and they've developed the discipline to listen to God's voice and obey Him (no matter how hard the task they're given or how tempted they are)
And so, as a teenager in these turbulent times, it's harder for us to "tune in" to God and to listen to what He has to say. But I guess that's what makes us feel even better when we do listen to Him: knowing that we were strong enough to resist the temptations of this world and that we pleased the Person that we love the most.
The line that stood out in this video would be "You can name somebody from what the worship." Elijah believed in Yaweh. Everyone has different beliefs and that is what defines one person. If one believes in the wrong thing, stay away from them. Those who have the same beliefs as you and believe in the right thing, stay with them. As I reflect on my life, I realized that there were times that I was with the wrong people. Now, I have found the right crowd to be in.
ReplyDeleteOn Mount Sinai, Elijah hears a tiny voice. That tiny voice was Jesus. That tiny voice is also our conscience. Our conscience is what tells us what is right from wrong. It is also the tiny voice that makes us feel guilty after doing something wrong. It is true that our conscience also rewards us when we have done something amazing and good. Cardinal Newman refers to the conscience as the "aboriginal vicar of Christ in the soul." Representative of Christ in the soul = conscience.
I have never looked at the conscience as Christ in our body. I always thought it was just a tiny voice, but never Christ. I'm happy I watched this video because now I can talk to Jesus more through the actions I do. If I do something good, my conscience will tell me so, meaning Jesus told me so. If I do something wrong, my conscience will tell me it is bad. I will "talk" to Jesus mentally and say sorry for what I have done and not do it again. I don't want to feel the guilt so I'll talk to Jesus. Every day before I sleep, I reflect on the events that had happened that day and check whether my actions were good or bad. Now that I know that my conscience is Jesus, I will talk to him about it.God is trying to communicate to me through the little actions that I do.
-Marie Ilagan, IV-B
All my life I saw my conscience just as a voice that would tell me what was right and wrong. I never thought of seeing my conscience as a voice of God. Nowadays, there are so many voices telling our generation how to live our life or how we should. I'd often wonder who I should listen to and through this video I realize that it is just that one voice that I have to listen to, God's voice. This video gave me a lot to reflect on and I find it so beautiful that God loves us so much that He Himself is the voice guiding us and leading us to the path of happiness. :)
ReplyDelete-Mia Santiago IVC
POSTING FOR BERTA KWOK, IV-C
ReplyDeleteThe important role of our conscience is to lead us to what is right and avoid what is wrong. It is that little voice in your head that navigates your life. It is hard to listen to it sometimes because there are other "voices" overpowering it and what the louder voices shout are most likely the things you want to hear. However, there is one thing that separates the conscience from other "consciences" or other voices.
"The conscience places us in the presence of someone that we love. That when you are rewarded by your conscience is the feeling you get when you've please someone you love. When you are punished by your conscience is the feeling you get when you have hurt or disappointed someone that you love. This is why the conscience is aboriginal vigour of Christ in the soul. It's the contact we have with a personal God who rewards us and chides us when we are less than what we should be." We know that this is the right conscience because when we listen to the voice, it is Christ and what He is saying is obviously in accordance with our morals and belief. It is the best option we have because this will free us from sin. If we let the other voices or temptations get the better of us, it will just lessen our capability to hear the tiny voice and thus will lead us to the wrong direction. The quote, "it profits man nothing to gain the world and lose his soul", explains as to why our conscience is so important. It shows that when we go on with life falling into temptation and losing our connection with God, it will only give us shallow pleasures that will benefit us nothing because what we are truly after is eternal life with God.
Wonderful commentary :) I love how he relates the tiny whispering voices to our conscience. It makes it easier for people to understand. It is true that we hear a voice in every plan of action we make. This is our conscience telling us right from wrong, but if our willpower and faith in itself is not deep enough, then will most likely choose what is wrong, due to our inclination to sin. We must learn to acknowledge God's unbounded love. He continuously gives us endless chances to rectify our wrong doings. And so, we must be more like Elijah - a man eminently clear about whom he worships and therefore everything in his life flows from that.. everything he thinks, everything he does." In other words, by knowing and acknowledging that God is the Supreme Being and by molding our life according to that realization, we will be able to live life making the right decisions with ease.
ReplyDeleteMa. Frances Marie December M. Tan, IV-B
"It prophets man nothing to gain the whole world and lose a soul"
ReplyDeleteThat line in itself simplifies the problem that almost every human soul has the tendency to face, almost everyday. We have such a difficult time making decisions, listening to all sorts of possible answers, and mulling over possibilities when the answer is always there. We just choose not to listen hard enough :-).
Fr. Barron was able to shed light on that in the most simplistic way possible and yet with such effect (on me personally). Using the the story of Elijah on Mt. Sinai as a parallelism, he was able to show that voices and noises like earthquakes in the mind are heard by everyone, even pious people like Elijah. But at the same time, everyone also has that inner whisper that Elijah had heard despite the noise around him.
Then Fr. Barron identifies what the whisper truly is, then links it to what our conscience is and how it is related to morality. The whisper in the story was the holy spirit. Our conscience, like the whisper, is the holy spirit reaching out to us, especially when we are faced with moral decisions or situations like that Elijah was faced with. It places you in the presence of some one you love and worship, and that is why it presses on us with such enormous power, as father Barron said. No matter how hard we try to ignore our conscience, we will always be met with the feeling shame, which is far more powerful than a negative you feeling you get from "writing a bad essay". Or in the case that we follow our conscience, we will be rewarded with such fulfillment and actualization that does not compare to any other feeling of contentment.
As a teenager, I personally have such a difficult deciding upon what to do and what not to do. After having watched this i realize now how simple the solution is. All we have to do is close our mind to all the other voices, and listen to the most important voice first and foremost-- the lord's :-)
From this video, I realized that there are, indeed, thousand voices in our minds competing for our attention to do this or to do that and among these voices there is a tiny whispering voice calling us the right way. The real challenge here is distinguishing this voice from the others and following toward the good. "When you are rewarded by your conscience is the feeling you get when you pleased someone that you love. When you are punished by your conscience is the feeling you get you hurt or disappointed someone that you love." I very mush agree with this line because the someone that I love is God. When I am rewarded by the conscience, I feel God being proud and happy with me but when I am punished by the conscience, I feel that I hurt God and failed Him.
ReplyDeleteI think that the fact that being able to hear the tiny whispering of conscience is a great achievement. Despite the voice being drowned by other noises, we are still able to walk the right path. Most importantly, we should never forget that the tiny whispering voice is God calling out to us. Because He loves us so much, He gives us choices to choose from (the loud voices) but doesn't forget to stretch out His hand to us (the tiny voice). To conclude, I learned that there always has been a tiny voice in my head that I wasn't able to pay attention to. Now that I've realized this I will be able to follow the right path that God is leading me to.
KIM, YE JI IV-B
(Yeji asked me to send hers in)
i understood from Fr. Barron that in the midst of all the voices calling to us, we should listen for and follow the small but powerful voice, called conscience. Conscience is unique: it has the ability to press on us. It tells us when we're doing something wrong or right. It not only lets us know the rights and wrongs but after we do something wrong, it shames us. After we do something right, it praises us. This tiny voice represents God's voice. And since it represents God, it is a vicor of God in our souls. Our conscience is the voice we especially should not ignore. Instead, we should follow it.
ReplyDeleteAlexandra L. Fandino IV - B
"It's the contact we have with the personal God, who rewards us and who chides us when we're less than what we should be"
ReplyDeleteBefore he says this line, Fr. Barron mentions that the conscience is the little voice in our head, the representative of God, speaking to us. It is because of our conscience that we are able to feel satisfied or guilty for something we've done, are doing, or are about to do. I really like how Fr. Barron emphasized the difference of feeling bad about something from feeling ashamed. I then realized that we come to be aware of our conscience once we recognize our moral virtues. There is then a fine line between what we think for ourselves (what we think our conscience tells us) and what our conscience is actually telling us. Both will seem the same except that our conscience has a greater and more powerful impact on our souls.
Going back to what Fr. Barron said, the conscience is the voice that chides us when we're less than what we should be. It's not something to bring us down; rather, it is a voice that motivates us to reach our full potentials.
---Kaye Bachar (IV-B)
(Kaye also asked me to send hers in)
This video showed me the true value of Conscience in our lives. It is something that directs our life and tells us whether we should do something or not. It is the voice of God, whispering to us what what He wants us to do. Father Robert Barron also talks about how people tend to listen to the "wrong voices" that often lead us to the wrong path. This motivated me to pay attention to my Conscience more, because I may be following these wrong voices. I may be in the path to losing my soul. Watching this film made me realize how thankful I am, that God has given me another connection to Him. I also realized the value of Conscience. Without it, we wouldn't have that extra incentive to do the right thing from the wrong.
ReplyDeleteIn today's world, there are so many factors that affect our decision making process. We hear so many voices around us telling us what to do and what not to do. From our childhood, we are repeatedly told to do certain things and to avoid others. This is not to be confused over what our conscience. There is a fine line between the two. It isn't simply one's father's or mother's voice speaking in their head but moreover, it's God's voice within us. In the story of Elijah, he asked for a sign that God was with him. It wasn't the strong wind or any other big sign. God was simply the small voice in his head and truth be told, this is more powerful than anything we can ever ask for. Fr. Barron quotes Cardinal Newman by saying it is "the aboriginal vicar of Christ in the soul." He could not be more right in saying so. Our conscience places us in the presence of someone you love which in our case is God. What sense our conscience apart from simple human emotion is that it brings about shame. We become ashamed when we do something bad or when we know that we go against the moral law. It brings about more than just happiness or sadness. It can create shame which only conscience can create. Our conscience is innate in each one of us. We don't ask for it but it is simply there. We don't ask for it yet it is more than we could ask for. As what Fr. Barron says, it's not something that hinders us or stops us from doing certain actions. Our conscience is what drives us to become better people and better children of God. It is what makes us one with Christ.
ReplyDelete--Monica Lorenzo (IVB)
What really struck me most when I watched Fr. Barron's video was the quote from Cardinal Newman: The conscience is the aboriginal vicar of Christ in the soul. The description of conscience was very vague before, but when Fr. Barron quoted the cardinal, it became a bit clearer to me. I knew that conscience is that little voice in our heads that tell us right from wrong, but I didn't realize that it's somehow a representative of Christ living in our souls making sure that we're able to tell the difference between right and wrong and eventually leading us to choose the right.
ReplyDeleteHowever, we still have to make an effort in hearing that voice in our heads because it's a very tiny voice amidst loud screams of temptation. And this is when the graces of God come in handy. Really, the closer we are to Christ, the louder the tiny voices of the conscience become since conscience is Christ's representative in our souls. The gift of conscience and graces from God will lead us to the right path, provided that human effort is exerted, although we cannot survive on our own.
-Kitkat Elane IVA
Watching this video helped me understand why I feel bad whenever I do something morally wrong and why I feel good whenever I do something good. It made me realize that the conscience is very important because it is God's way of telling us to choose the right decision. He made it clear to His children including myself that He is there to help us, but we often forget that the everything we do can be seen by Him. We often forget how much He sacrificed for us, and doing wrong things just disappoints Him. Now, I understand that whenever I do something wrong, I feel bad, because deep down I know I failed God-- that I failed to obey his rules. This video taught me that the conscience is very important because whenever we need guidance, we just have to listen hard to what "it" is trying to tell us.
ReplyDeleteAlek Tagle, IV-C
(Alek asked to have this sent! :D)
[CLAUDINE AFABLE's comment] Basically, the video widened my understanding of conscience. Based on what Fr. Barron said, he mentioned that the conscience is the "contact that we have with the personal God". When we do not follow our conscience, we feel shame. We feel ashamed of the immoral acts we have committed. "It is the feeling that you get when you hurt someone that you love". The shame that we feel is the feeling when we did not follow our conscience and ended up doing immoral acts. Fr. Barron also made me realize the difference on being ashamed or feeling bad about something. His example of writing a bad article and doing something immoral was very relatable. Not following our conscience will have a greater impact on us compared to writing a bad article because we know that we have displeased God. If we follow our conscience, we get the feeling that we have pleased someone we love. That someone we love is God. In the end, we should always follow the little voice, known as our conscience that tells us to do the right thing.
ReplyDelete- Claudine Afable, IV-B
"You cannot reduce the conscience to those things, there is something that is just so powerful, clear and intricate about it that we know it is not just a matter of hang-ups, repressions, or eternalized voices of our fathers."
ReplyDeleteI found this quote really amusing yet quite significant because that was what I used to relate my conscience to whenever I think about it. I used to believe that the conscience was just your subconscious reminding you of what you should do, or what you should have done right (just like a parent), and I believe that many people today see it as such too.
After watching this video, I now understand what the conscience really is, which is basically that small voice inside of us that holds the moral truth which is innate in each and everyone of us; this helps us choose right from wrong. It is God's own way of connecting with us in a sense that he wants what is best for us while still giving us free will to do as we please.
This video truly is Godsend because with how our world/our generation is today, we must learn and understand what our conscience is to help us listen better (or actually listen) to what our conscience is telling us to do without thinking of it as "the voice of our parent" and whatnot.
Nicole Duran, IV-A
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ReplyDeleteI used to think that the conscience was simply a subconscious part of us that tells us right from wrong. I also linked the concept of conscience to emotions like guilt and relief. This video made clear to me what conscience really is. The conscience is not some part of our brain that tells us what is right and wrong, it is a real and actual Voice. Moreover, it is not just any voice, it is the Voice of God. God Himself continuously guides us through our conscience. Through the constant and continuous guidance He gives us through our conscience, He leads us to the path of true happiness and freedom by helping us live a morally upright life, and therefore, a fruitful and meaningful life.
ReplyDeleteChelsea S. Tambunting
IV-C
"Conscience is the aboriginal vicar of Christ in the soul." When Fr. Barron said that quote, it opened my mind and helped me understand 'conscience' better. Christ is the voice within my soul that guides me to do good. Who else would be better?
ReplyDeleteThe point of my conscience is to help me decipher good actions from bad actions. Jesus Christ is the role model I am trying to mirror in my actions. Who would be better to help me and guide me through the trials I encounter? He is the perfect example and of course, I always think "WWJD" (what would Jesus do). It turns out that I didn't need to think about it so much because the answer is already ingrained in my soul. Jesus is already telling me what to do through my conscience. It's only Jesus who can guide me so thoroughly. And it's only Jesus who can have such control over the reward and punishment I receive.
Fr. Barron is right when he says that the feeling you experience when you do something morally bad is different from when you don't do well. When I don't do well in a competition or a test, I think "Oh, I could have done better." but when I do something morally bad or directly against my conscience, I think "Oh no! I shouldn't have done that!" The different ideas and thoughts that enter my mind during these situations just amplify how different the two situations are. It is 'shame' that we experience when we do something morally bad. When we don't best in a test or competition or something, it's embarrassment we feel. The two things are entirely different and 'shame' is much graver because of the lasting and painful feeling that it leaves on us. Embarrassment is just temporary and is just pride. Shame is something against your soul, against your nature as a human being.
It also goes the other way when you do something good. The happiness you experience when you do a morally good act is something that you can't get from anything else. Sure, it feels good to get high on a test or do well in a performance, but it doesn't give me that feeling of my heart being lifted, my soul being cleaned, and my mind being filled that I receive after I go to mass. It's something entirely different and only something Jesus can give us.
Fr. Barron talks about how the conscience places us in the presence of someone you love which is why it hurts so much when you do bad or feels so good when you do something good. When you love someone, you care for them and only want what's best for them which is why you don't want to do anything bad because it will hurt them. Or why you work extra hard to do good so that they will become happy and pleased. That "someone you love" is JESUS. That's why it hurts so much or is feels so good. He has already sacrificed His life for us on the cross and yet here we are hurting him even more. That is why the reward and punishment is something we can't experience anywhere else because the conscience is Jesus Christ.
Now, the problem is that there is a tendency to ignore our consciences. We tend to degrade them as just an annoying voice that doesn't understand society or how things work. Like what Fr. Barron said, as teenagers, it is especially difficult to listen to this whispering voice when there are other voices yelling our face. We have the voice of temptation, the voice of pressure, and the voice of the devil trying to overpower the voice of our conscience, the voice of Jesus Christ. With so many distractions and bad influences, it is hard to listen for the soft, whispering voice. However, if we do push aside all the negative influences and voices and find the voice of Christ, we gain a skill that helps us create a closer relationship with God and brings us to what is GOOD. As teenagers, we need to make a conscious effort to find this voice and listen to it. Our conscience is Jesus Christ directly guiding us. Our conscience is really "What would Jesus do?"
Bianca V. Suarez IVB
“You can tell a lot of persons by what they worship” This is one of the things that struck me the most. When he said it, I didn’t really believe him because I couldn’t seem to understand the relationship of what a person believes in to his personality or qualities. But as I further reflect on myself, I realized that I could see this in my own life. God is the number one thing that I worship. Because of this, my life revolves around God most of the time. I usually offer up all the things that I do to God. My goals and ambitions is to follow what God has planned for me and I surround myself with people that believe in Him and guide me towards Him. God is my number one priority and the people who are around me are usually the people who help me stay on that path to Him. I try to make everything I do for his greater glory and for Him. I worship Him only that is why my life revolves around Him.
ReplyDeleteHis last statement or point struck me the most because I can honestly say that this is true. There are so many things in the world today that makes us lose sight of what is really right and what is wrong. One of the things that have a big role in our blindness to the right way is the media. Sometimes, the media feeds us wrong information that confuses us. It makes us think that a certain action or thing is good when in reality it isn’t. It forms our mind to believe what they want us to believe even if it is completely wrong. But even though we may become “blind”, our conscience is always there to guide us to the right path. It is hard to listen to it because there are so many wrong voices telling us the opposite of what our conscience is telling us but we must put effort in searching for that voice, for our conscience , because this is the only one that will help us towards God. We have the natural tendency to what is good, although sometimes this is blurred by outside factors, we must find our way to that good no matter how hard it is. God gave us this voice, this conscience, so that He may guide us through all the struggles and the confusions. It is our choice if we want to find that voice amongst the other false voices and follow it or just completely fall into the control of the false voices.
KORINA M. OBLEPIAS
IV-C
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ReplyDeleteI realized how important conscience is. I had no idea that conscience is one of the many ways God is trying to communicate with us. This voice of conscience represents God in our souls.whenever I do something bad, there's always that "voice" in my head to think before acting. And sometimes, I choose to ignore that "voice" I end up regreting not listening to my conscience.
ReplyDeleteTwix Tan Gana
Christine F. Hizon (IV-B)
ReplyDeleteThe conscience is the "tiny whispering voice" in our head and "the Lord is in that Voice". From the comments of Father Barron, I learned that that tiny voice in our head is actually God's voice telling what's good and what's bad or what is moral. We shouldn't reduce our conscience into something miniscule because in truth it is filled with "enormous power". It is the voice of Jesus, who is the Supreme Being. We should always follow our conscience, not the opinions of others nor what the society dictates us to do because our conscience (so long as we are in the right state of mind) is the best thing to follow to achieve what is good.
The conscience is something very powerful, in the end it is what will punish us with shame or reward us with happiness according to the morality of our actions. If we go against our conscience, the most important voice in our head, then we won't be happy because we would be going against God-who is our happiness. The comments of Father Barron made me realize that I should reflect more on my actions before and after executing it so I know if what I did or will do is morally correct or not and so that I will be able to learn from my mistakes. Lastly, I should listen more to my conscience rather than giving in to peer pressure or other factors because my conscience is the whisper of God into my soul, it is He way of guiding me and helping me through obstacles in life.
I really enjoyed this video, because Fr. Barron managed to put into words what I've felt for a while.
ReplyDeleteHe talked about our conscience, and how it's God's voice, directing us towards a good, moral life. He further explained that the little voice we hear in our heads is so familiar and close to us, not because it's a version of yourself, like how movies sometimes show a tiny angel and devil on someone's shoulders (http://2.bp.blogspot.com/_UQ_mDu1rACE/S0IUF1biRXI/AAAAAAAAAiM/WtwW-0vDIfw/s320/kronk+1%5B1%5D.jpg), but because it's like the voice of someone we love and care about deeply.
Which is why we feel elated and almost proud when we hear our conscience praising us after we've done something morally good, and why we feel so ashamed when we hear our conscience chastising us when we've done something wrong. It's almost like we're happy to face it when we've done good, and we want to hide from it when we've done something wrong. He explains we feel this way because it's GOD's voice, our Father, who we *hear in our heads. We're happy to make him proud, but ashamed when we know we've gone against his will.
I also love the idea that a small piece of God is with us wherever we go, guiding us, helping us, talking to us. This further enforces the ideas I grew up with surrounding God, about Him always listening to our thoughts and talking back to us. It just shows that even though God is so huge, so vast, so omnipotent, He still gives a part of Himself to each and every one of us, attached to our souls (from when He first created us), because He loves us so dearly.
After watching this video, I'll remember to keep aware of what my conscience is saying. I don't want to be ashamed or guilty about facing it, especially since I now know it's really God. I want to be proud of what I do, and content. I want to make my conscience, or God, proud and happy. I'll do my best to listen to my conscience, and not let it get drowned in cacophony of voices bombarded at me everyday. It will be hard, but sometimes being a good Catholic, being a good person, and doing the right thing are difficult. Always worth it in the end though, considering it will help contribute to my character. :)
*About "hearing" my conscience, I don't know if it's like this for other people, but I don't literally "hear" a voice. It's more of a gut feeling, something very primal and instinctual, than actual words being said to me. I now think it feels this way to me because it's God. He's part of my very soul, my very being, and this is why I feel Him and my conscience by my gut, rather than hear an actual voice.
Just sharing this little revelation I just had :)
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ReplyDeleteWhat Fr. Barron said that struck me the most is: "My point is it's not like the conscience. What I feel when I say, "Yeah! I written a good article. It's good. It's a good feeling but not like the feeling that I get from doing something morally right or the feeling I get from writing a bad article. It's bad but its's not like the feeling of conscience when I have done something morally wrong. We use the word SHAME there."
ReplyDeleteWhat Fr. Barron said made me understand more fully what conscience is. Conscience is the small voice we hear that tells us what is good and what is bad. It is very powerful because it is the aboriginal vicar of the Christian soul. I understand now that the feeling we have when we achieved something or got low in a test is different from the feeling of conscience because conscience let us feel shame just like Adam and Eve when they were ashamed that they were naked. There may be other voices that we may hear aside from the small voice which is our conscience and you can have the option to listen to our conscience or ignore it but if we continue to ignore our conscience then we lose our souls which is losing our conscience. I think we need silence in our life so that we can reflect and fully listen to that small voice that is trying to talk to us.
-Ira Nevalga IV-A
I liked what Fr. Barron's commented about conscience. What I really liked most is when he said that conscience is aboriginal Vicar of Christ in the soul. The small whispering that makes us know that we are doing good or bad. Explanation of conscience from Fr. Barron was very clear and it made me understand better the meaning of conscience through his examples.
ReplyDeleteI think it is really important for us to hear this small whisper because this really tells us whether we are doing good or not. Also not just hearing it but to act accordingly.
-Bang, Woo Jin IVA-
Pinocchio gave me my first image of a conscience- a little cricket with an umbrella, and although I should have outgrown it, I preferred to keep the image of the cricket man as my conscience. It gave me a tangible sense of what I was dealing with.
ReplyDeleteHaving a cricket on my shoulder telling me right from wrong was better than thinking I could drive myself mad with guilt if I ever steered away from the right. Fr. Barron uses the word "shame" to describe how he feels when he commits a morally wrong act, I don't know if shame is what I ever felt but I know that when I do something wrong, I end up feeling restless.
I wouldn't be able to sleep, I'd have not appetite, I'd just be so overwhelmed because I wouldn't be able to stop thinking of the consequences of my actions. What could happen and what I could have done differently. Conscience, I've always believed, can haunt any man- like a pestering ghost with a voice that gets only louder and louder when ignored.
Though I have always liked the idea of my cricket conscience, knowing that it is the "aboriginal vicar of Christ" in me, is a good replacement. I like knowing that God is there, guiding me, helping me, and reminding me to listen to Him.
This video gave me more idea about conscience. All the words stated by father.Barron was all good . he was made good examples that helped me understand more about conscience. what father. Barron stated that conscience is a tiny whisper strucked me the most while watching the video. It made me think more about conscience. The short video about the conscience gave me more ideas about conscience through examples and the word stated by father Barron.
ReplyDelete"You can tell a lot about a person depending on what they worship." - Fr. Barron
ReplyDeleteIn the commentary made by Father Barron i learned a lot of things including the ff:
"You can tell a lot about a person depending on what they worship." - Fr. Barron
This line of Father Barron really struck me, aside from the fact that it was the first thing he said, it also made me think that "To worship someTHING, makes us NOthing. To worship the ONE, makes us someONE". We don't just worship someONE, we worship the one who gave us the "heavens and the earth", the one who created us because he knew that he has created something that is "very good" out side of Himself. Given the opportunity that we were given the gift of freedom by our God, it is but right to serve the purpose of our creation, by knowing what is moral, by following the TRUTH, by following Him.
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Conscience, being the aboriginal vicar of Christ in the soul, is able to make us aware that we have within us a "personal God". A personal God that makes us feel rewarded when we have done something good, and makes us feel punished when we have done something against him. Also, conscience is a voice, a voice that we know would lead us to do the right thing. Not only should it be the most inferior voice that we hear, but it should also be the one that we follow.
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Conscience also helps us in knowing if we can ride the "Worth-ship". We are incapable to steer or navigate our own "ships"/ lives if we would only depend on ourselves. Many times our "worth-ship" is tested by storms, struggles, pressure, waves, etc. However, if we follow our conscience, our "worth-SHIP" would sail smoothly along the rivers and will make us strong even though the rapids may shake us we can still stand strong and sooner or later reach our end. On the other hand, if we veer away from what our conscience tells us, there is a possibility that our "worth-ship" may sink, it can lead us to forgetting about what the truth is, what we believe in and that we actually have a God that will help us sail once more only if we acknowledge our faults.
Janel Christine Mendoza IVA
"The conscience is the aboriginal vicar of Christ in the soul."
ReplyDeleteWhen I first heard this line, I thought of how familiar "aboriginal vicar of Christ" was to me. But I wasn't sure so I googled the definition. Aboriginal means "existing in", while vicar of Christ means "representative of Christ." From what I searched, I now understand from this line that conscience is the representative of Christ who lives in our soul. This is why we do not see conscience. We only hear and think of it because it is the voice of Christ telling us what to do. It is Christ's voice in our souls telling us to do good and avoid evil.
Christ does his part in order to help us choose what is right by being this "tiny voice" in our souls. But it is not all up to him on what we do. That is why we have freedom. Because we have freedom, it is up to us to choose whether to listen to that "tiny voice" that is telling us to do good, or just go ahead and do what we want even if it is wrong. We should always try our best to listen and follow that "tiny voice" in our heads, because listening and following to this "tiny voice" makes a big difference on judgement day. Following this "tiny voice" of Christ will lead us to salvation.
What struck me about what Fr. Barron said is when he said that "Conscience is a voice that tells us right from wrong. It rewards us in an absolutely unique way when we are good and kind. It punishes us in an absolutely unique way when we do things that counter the will of God." It struck me because you could see that the conscience, the "voice" really is like the voice of God in our souls telling us right from wrong. Because the conscience is the aboriginal vicar of Christ in the soul, the little voice we hear is supposed to be like the voice of God. It really tries to steer us towards what is good and we'll know because it will reward us in a unique way that will allow us to know that what we did was morally good. At the same time, it also tells us what we did was morally bad through its unique punishment that we recognize from when we know we have done bad things. Conscience is really that little voice that we should listen to; it can be difficult to hear but it's always there anyway.
ReplyDeleteEricka Capulong IVC
After having watched the video, I realized how conscience is linked to God's love for us. God loves us so much that he's given us our conscience to help us know what is right from wrong. He "whispers" to us each time we do something that might cause harm to us. The only problem is that we can chose to not listen to God's voice. When we chose to ignore the "voice of God", we go through a series of consequences due to our action. Truly, we cannot be dependent on ourselves when it comes to sin because we tend to cover up the sin.(SHAME) Our conscience is within us to help us face our sin and correct it. God tells us what to do and what not to do. He loves us so much that He whispers in our ear each time we are about to fall. After learning about conscience, I became more thankful and more aware about the importance of conscience. I also realized God's deep love for each of us in the world.
ReplyDelete- Hanna Arbilo IVA -
"Do you have the capacity a midst all those voices to hear that tiny whispering voice? Because that's the one you have to pay attention to."
ReplyDeleteThese days, I notice that most people will have vastly different opinions and choices from one another, and all will be considered correct, because not one person is completely right, each person differs from their neighbor, and it's all okay. It's all relative and subjective anyway, according to them. What we don't realize is that those millions of voices, the loud opinions and such of the people around us, aren't necessarily right. We shouldn't so easily just give into what one person believes and believes that too.
Morality, what is considered as right and wrong, is not something we decide for ourselves, or for anyone to dictate to us. It's about listening to the tiny whispers that don't try to push us, but gently remind us that just because certain voices are louder than most, it doesn't mean they're the most reliable and correct. Rather, the quiet ones are the ones that speak the most truth.
This video made me open my eyes and realize how important our conscience really is. I always thought that my conscience was just "another me" disagreeing or agreeing with myself on something, but boy was I wrong! Our conscience is God! Knowing this know made me value my conscience so much more than before. It made me realize how important it is to listen to my conscience because it is God's way of helping me go through the better path in life even though it may be difficult. Father Barron mentioned that when we are rewarded my our conscience we get the feeling we get when we please someone we love which feels pretty good but when we get punished we get the feeling we get when we have hurt or disobeyed someone we love. This made me think about it and I agree. When we listen to our conscience we usually end up doing the good thing and it feels great! But when we follow our instinct and not listen to our conscience we usually regret our actions after and it usually feels like you have failed. This video made me realize how important my conscience is and how I should listen to it no matter what because now I know that it's God's way of communicating with me.
ReplyDelete"The Lord said it profits man nothing to gain the whole world and loose his soul"
ReplyDeleteNowadays, it is very difficult to decipher right from wrong due to the many "voices" that pull us towards different directions. These voices, that come from media, popular culture and current trends, make it difficult, especially for teens, to know what to follow. Fr. Baron emphasizes in his video the presence of conscience in us. He mentions that the conscience is like a vicar or a representative of Christ in the soul that helps us know the absolute truth in situations that deal with the morality of an action. To add to Fr. Baron’s comment on conscience, a well-formed and developed conscience helps one to avoid falling for moral relativism. Having a “strict” conscience guards us from believing in lies made by the modern world and from believing that truth is relative, that we can decide for ourselves what is good or bad. Our conscience helps us live a life according to the absolute and objective truth. Furthermore, the conscience helps us know how to follow and please God, whom we love, and know what displeases Him.
Mika Rodas IV-A
The line that struck me the most while watching the video is when Fr. Barron said that "The Conscience is the aboriginal vicar of Christ in the soul".
ReplyDeleteIt struck me the most because it made me realize that even if God gave us the freedom to choose whatever we want, he is always and will always be there to guide our conscience to make the right choice. Since, aboriginal means to inhabit or exist in, Christ is in our soul because he is also part of our conscience. He exists in our soul to guide us to make the right choices because like Elijah, he hears a "tiny whispering voice". In our case, that "whispering voice" is Christ guiding us to make the right choices whenever we go through times with tough decisions to make.
--Jaci Yatco IVB
"You can tell an awful lot of a person through what they worship."
ReplyDeleteI agree with this line that Fr. Barron said because truly, what we worship in life says a lot about who we are. If we worship money and material things then it shows that we are materialistic. If we worship many gods, then it shows that we are polygamistic. If we woship and love the one true God the father with all our hearts, then it shows that we do have a clear vision of our purpose in life and that we are diligent Followers of the Catholic faith. This is very related to conscience which was another thing that struck me in this video.
Father barron mentioned in the video the tiny whispering voice that tells us the right from the wrong. In every action and choice that we make, somewhere within us, we know which is one was the right and wrong thing to do. This is also known as the whisper to our souls and this whisper can be identified as the holy spirit and as God the father reaching to us especially during the times when we are faced with moral decisions. And when we do make the right choice, we are rewarded with grace, happiness and love from God. But when we make the wrong choice, we are punished by God and we feel guilty for what we have done. This is the aboriginal vicar of Christ in our souls or the voice inside of us that makes us aware of the consequences of choices that we will choose to make. Conscience exists primarily as a guide for us to choose the right path but in the end it will all still depend on how we use our free will.
- MARIEL LOPEZ IVA
From Go Woon Lee (Sabrina) IV-A
ReplyDeleteBefore watching this video, conscience was just a simple "voice" that we would hear when we do something bad. I didn't even know that we would be hearing voices when we would do something good. This video taught me that conscience isn't something that just allows us to distinguish what is right and what is wrong, but that conscience is moral.We tend to hear many voices in our minds when we do something wrong like, "Is this right?Am I sure?Am I allowed to do this?" and when we do something wrong like, "I think I did pretty well on the test today." No. Conscience isn't something that meddles with these petty things that goes through our minds every single day. Conscience is something that really is undistinguishable because it is surrounded by hundreds of other voices and we need to listen carefully for it. It is the thing that stops us from doing something morally wrong and urges us to go on when we are doing something morally right. Conscience is the voice of Jesus that allows us to make the right choices in whatever things we do. Father Barron taught me so much things in this short 8mins and 29sec video and I don't know why but it made me feel so warm and happy. It was a beautiful video which I think I could watch over and over again.
Sabrina Lee IV-A
From this video of Fr. Barron, I've learned more about the conscience. I've learned that the conscience is something even more powerful than its meaning. It is not only the representation of Jesus within us speaking to us but it is something more powerful that cannot be expressed in these kinds of matter. With our conscience we not only know what is right from wrong but God tries to talk to us through this. We sometimes ignore what He tells us what is right so we start having our own thoughts and we do whatever we think is the truth but really isn't. But what Fr. Barron is telling us is that we should listen to that small voice and not the thousands of voices around us because God is within us and in order to show our love for Him, we need to follow what He wills us to do which is to do what is good.
ReplyDeleteI am thankful for having given this opportunity to know more about the real purpose of the presence of Conscience in us from hearing Father Barron’s words. I discovered that conscience doesn’t just exist as guidance in telling us on whether or not our actions are good, but also it is God’s voice, which makes it more powerful. I learned Conscience is important because there are times when we are prone to committing disgraceful acts but the fact that our conscience is always ready to show us the right way makes us avoid in doing so. It also makes us realize the difference from the bad and the good so we always have to give attention to our conscience to be able to achieve living the right way.
ReplyDeleteAliya Ambray IV B
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ReplyDeleteBy watching the video, I was able to further understand what the word "conscience" means. Conscience is the voice that we all recognize, the voice that tells us right from wrong, the voice that rewards us when we have done something that is generous, kind, and godly and punishes us when we've done something against God's will –something that makes us less than what we should be.
DeleteWhile watching the video of Father Barron regarding the topics of conscience and morality, what struck me the most is this line: "Eliyahu --Eli means God; Yahu means Yahweh –Yahweh is my God. That's who Elijah is. He is very clear on his ultimate value which is Yahweh." It struck me the most because in the bible stories about him running to Mt. Sinai after being chased, he heard the tiny whispering voice –he heard God. He was able to hear his conscience because he was being rewarded for being able to distinguish right from wrong and stand up for what is true in front of King Ahab and Queen Jezebel after they had both fallen to the worship of a false god. It struck me because amidst the voices of the king and the queen, he was able to hear that tiny whispering voice that told him that what he did was the right thing to do and that he was able to succeed in following the voice of God amidst the thousands of other voices –the voice that one needs to follow.
Felicia Dominguez IV-C
POSTING FOR ISAY CRUZ
ReplyDeleteNow did I realize that in everything we do, we always hear this voice that tells us whether what we're doing is good or bad. It made me realize the importance of it, and how we should actually listen more to this tiny little voices, which is the conscience. He's saying that despite the fact that we have our conscience telling us the right thing to do, we still have this free will and freedom that will most likely make us choose the wrong thing, and will eventually lead us to commit sin. Being able to watch this video showed me the true value of conscience and how it is God's
voice leading us to the right path. Like, there are times wherein we tend to have second thoughts on the things were about to do, because it is usually our conscience telling us whats the better thing to do. Although there are times that we'd rather follow the wrong voice,thus leading us to doing the wrong thing
and committing sin. This is why Fr. Barron also mentioned how we tend to listen to the wrong voices instead of listening to God's voice which leads us to sin. And so because of this video, I learned that I should be more aware of the kind of conscience
I listen to, that it should be God's voice. That hopefully I'm not listening and following the wrong voices which will lead me to the wrong path. This video showed us that God does everything to have a special connection with each and every one of us just to be
able to guide us to the right path, and avoid ourselves from sinning. therefore we should be thankful about this conscience [God's voice] and not just ignore it, but take advantage [not in a bad way] of it.
-- Isay Cruz IV-C
I love this video. Father Barron explained the true meaning of conscience very well. I realized that the conscience is an important value for us and I learned that it is a tiny voice from God to do the right things. I decided to follow my conscience whenever there is a situation that I have to decide on. The video helped me to understand myself better and deeper.
ReplyDelete-Cheong, Seo Hyen (Ann) IV-B
KATRINA OLAN (IV-C)
ReplyDeleteFather Barron on Conscience and Morality
During creation, God crafted man from the soil. Man was made from the earth, yet there was a part of him that was imparted to him by God. That part of man was the Soul. God literally breathed life into us, and because of this, we have a part of Him in us. We have free will, and intellect, and an effect of this is the ability of conscience. Now, I think conscience is what really makes us special, like the video implicates. Special, because first of all we have the ability to judge our actions before even doing them. A dog, or any other animal, for that matter may not be able to judge that there is rat poison in their food. Man can rationalize what is happening around them, and respond to it either in a good or bad way. That is why we really need to take care of what we do. The conscience is God’s voice talking to us. But we must be careful in order to hear the proper voice. There are many other voices that want to drown His voice out; such examples are the voices of pleasure, the voices of vice, the voices of materialism. They sometimes speak louder than the voice of God. It’s a saddening reality, even in the world today. Now we listen more to heavy metal rock than to mass. Now we watch pornography rather than the Passion of Christ. Now we spend more time on the computer rather than in the church. We must struggle to fight against these voices. We must used our own voice and shout out, “I must hear myself!” Not the stained, imperfect self, but the self imparted to us by God. God’s voice. I leave this comment with a quote. “Be careful of your thoughts, for your thoughts become your words. Be careful of your words, for your words become your actions. Be careful of your actions, for your actions become your habits. Be careful of your habits, for your habits become your character. Be careful of your character, for your character becomes your destiny." ~Author unknown
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ReplyDeleteThanks to this video, I have a deeper understanding of what ourconscience really is. It is the "aboriginal vigor of Christ in the soul" because it's the contact with a personal God who rewards us when we're less than what we should be. This is also why we react in certain ways when we follow our conscience and when we don't.
ReplyDeleteBecause of this video, I will now be more rational and listen to the voice of my conscience more often. I will think of my conscience as God speaking to me; how could you say no to God, right?
Our conscience may be competing with thousands of other voices, but
"that one voice is the one we need to follow."